How the fuck do you cope with it?
I have stuff that I need to do, and even if I start working on it non-stop now it's still iffy on whether or not I'll actually get it done in time. And yet, I cannot focus. At all. And so I cannot work. And so I am left with even less time. And so I seem to become increasingly screwed with every passing moment.
I don't have it, but I have a friend who does. He said he developed a lot of mitigation strategies over time (standard tactics to help concentration), but what really helped was medication. I don't know what medicine he got, but if you're interested, I could ask him.
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to get on medication now, but the problem is that the lower priced been-around-for-awhile stuff does nothing for me, so the next step is to try the expensive as hell tackles-the-problem-in-a-different way stuff. I'm about as close to completely broke as one can be (technically I'm in debt but I have a positive balance in my bank account) so I can't pay for it. We're looking into getting a, "Damn. You're broke," discount, but these things take time.
DeleteMeanwhile I have a semester's worth of work to do in about eight days.
I don't know if any of this will be helpful as I have dealt more with the depression and ADD without the H but I have done a lot of school with those things and I have had luck with going somewhere specially dedicated to working on school--I adopted a university library that wasn't even my university, but I had to get out of my room. That's the big one. Then staying there until a certain goal has been accomplished. The usual things -- rules about how long to work, disabling your own wifi if necessary, exercise. I honestly drank a lot of black tea. The caffeine seemed to focus me and the ritual of making or buying it put me in the zone. I don't know if any if this will help. Hang in there. You can do it. --Mel
ReplyDeleteI haven't really found any good techniques for forcing myself to focus when my mind really does not want to cooperate. Sorry :(.
ReplyDeleteAt this point, you should probably focus on petitioning for extensions.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately I already have, the teacher in question is in what's known as phased retirement which means he won't be around next semester, end result. I have to get him the work before next semester begins. It begins in 8 days so I have to get it to him in seven.
DeleteThe semester the work was supposed to be done in ended last year. Mind you I didn't learn about the time constraints on me until eight days ago (and didn't realize this was the halfway point until I wrote this post and checked some stuff) so until then my priorities weren't exactly as focused on the class in question as it wasn't the only one I had to ask for an extension in.
And here's the thing, not all of those remaining seven days can be devoted to working on it. At best maybe half of them can be. 3.5 days, one semester worth of work. Please excuse me as I go try to do the impossible.
Good luck. My husband has fairly intense ADD and he had issues with a traditional college schedule. He ended up having to take a class or two at a time and then working a part-time job. When he was writing papers for culinary school, it helped when he had someone encouraging - not shaming - but also rather insistent on at least staying at the computer and looking at the screen. That person happened to be me, but having someone check in on you once in a while in an encouraging manner may help.
ReplyDeleteAlso, a small amount of caffeine may help. My mom's an elementary school teacher and she said that for some of her students with ADD who aren't on Ritalin but are seriously struggling, she's seen some serious improvement when they have a caffeinated soda in the morning. On the other hand, too much might have a negative effect - my husband said that he gets really tired after three cups of coffee.